Culture Shock! Turkey

I enjoy the Culture Shock! series because it tends to be humorous, entertaining, and sometimes downright rude.Whether or not the information is actually accurate is another question.

Arin Bayraktaroglu is a Turkish expat who writes about business, social, and family customs.Here are a few of my favorite nuggets (though, once again, I can’t attest to their accuracy):

Turks are incredibly romantic and tend to fall in love easily.Proposals on the second date are not uncommon.I don’t know if this is true, but I suspect anyone who falls in “love” so quickly will likely fall out of love equally as quickly.I don’t plan on any international romances.

Hospitality is an essential part of Turkish culture, and the food is particularly delicious.Mmm, I love food.Hopefully, I’ll get a lot of walking in to counteract all the eating I plan on doing.Turkish delight, I’m on my way.

Turks believe in the “evil eye.”People with blue eyes are particularly suspicious.I’m not exactly sure what the evil eye is or does, but I do know that I have very blue eyes.I guess I better start practicing my innocent look.

After reading this guide, I won’t claim that I really know anything about the Turkish culture.But at least I now know that nodding my head “yes” actually means “no,” and shaking my head “no” actually means “I don’t know.”